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Date New Year's Day by the Chinese calendar. February 18th in 2007.
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| Ways of celebration |
| Traditional celebration of the Spring Festival includes a family feast on the New Year's Eve(年夜饭), letting off firecrackers (放鞭炮), creating New Year couplets (贴春联), paying New Year calls (拜年), visiting temple fair, and giving cash presents to the kids of one's close family for their happy growing up(压岁钱)! |
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| Origin |
| Now popularly known as the Spring Festival, the day symbolizes the Beginning of Spring, the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature. Its origin is too old to be traced, but all agree that Nian (年), the word for "year" in modern Chinese, was originally the name of a monstrous beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year. Legend has it that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that could swallow a great many people with one bite, leaving the people extremely scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of men who are by no means your worthy opponents?" So, it swallowed many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harassed people and their domestic animals from time to time. After that, the old man disappeared, riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into the forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at the end of each year to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most. From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese has both the meaning of "pass-over" and "observe". The custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian is still around today. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration. |
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| Other |
| The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and it is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, creating the busiest time for transportation systems of about around 2 weeks from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees. Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last until the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year. |
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| Vocabulary |
过年好！
Guo nian hao
Happy new year! |
祝新年快乐幸福，大吉大利。
Zhu xin nian kuai le xing fu, da ji da li
I hope you have a most happy and prosperous New Year! |
恭喜发财
gong xi fa cai
Wishing you great fortune! |
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| Text message Greetings |
| ·For friends: 无惊无险，又是一年，新年来临，衷心祝愿，银行存款，只增不减，美好未来，努力今天，人生目标，一直向钱！ |
| ·For friends: 我最亲爱的朋友：在这新年里祝愿上帝保佑您！观音菩萨护住您！财神抱住您！爱神射住您！食神吻住您！ |
| ·For the lover who is someone else's husband: 老婆是家，情人是花；工资给家，奖金买花；病了回家，好了看花；希望你在新的一年里记得常回家看看，但也别忘了浇花。 |
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| Photos |
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| Fu (福)decoration. The character 福 means good fortune, often put upside down when pasted on the front door, for a 倒福 (an upside down fu) just reminds one of 福到 (the arrival of good fortune). |
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| A traditional Spring Festival decoration, with a boy and a girl in New Year dresses, holding the signs of 恭喜发财 (we wish you good fortune), 万事如意 (everything happen as you wish) , and an upside down fu character, a symbol of blessing (倒福) in the middle. |
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New Year Decorations Fair.
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New Year Couplets, pasted on the sides of front door.
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Courtesy of China.org.cn
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